baz luhrmann
Nov. 30th, 2008 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbicideToday was nice. I met Pete downtown and we saw Australia.
I have sort of unexpectedly loved every Baz Lurhmann movie I've seen. Yeah, even Moulin Rouge. The whole Red Curtain trilogy was awesome. But, the previews for Australia seemed like too many movies spatched together and the vague reviews at Defamer indicated that everyone thought it was way too long.
So, it's true I had lowered expectations when I went in. But I ended up really loving it. Sometimes movies with spunky kids bug me, because the intention to gank at your heartstrings seems so transparent and manipulative.
The movie starts a little weakly, with the aboriginal kid narrating in pidgin-speak. And I wasn't the biggest fan of that, but it at least didn't bother me. It was nearly three hours, and there were many stories, but I loved them all.
The scene where Nuallah loses his mom had me tearing up in earnest and shaking a little. It's not hard to make me cry in general, but I really don't cry at the movies often. It sort of caught me off guard how upset I felt about it and for the death of the accountant whose name I'm forgetting.
I liked Nicole Kidman's character so much. I liked that there wasn't this annoying trajectory of how she has a general assumption about the aboriginal people and then has a shiny epiphany that, WOW, it's like they're PEOPLE or something. Nor was she some sort of dewey-eyed love everyone sing kumbahya because the hills are alive with the sound of all people type. She had actual moral fiber and strength and determination and was allowed to be multi-faceted enough to also be loving and playful and interested in sex. I found myself really admiring her. Which also doesn't happen that often at the movies lately. Clearly, I would like to be this character when I grow up.
Hugh Jackman was freaking hot as usual. I think he should come over so we can make out now. I also liked that his character had some depth and didn't have all the usual boring hangups. (Which, maybe his attachment issues are the boring kind, but they were because he'd lost his first wife and was scared.)
The rest of the cast did a great job, too. I liked that Neil Fletcher wasn't just a toady acting for the Big Bad as one might have assumed from the beginning. He was the true villain of the piece and Carney was just a ruthless businessman, but not a killer.
My only criticisms are that while I admire Kidman's willingness to be silly, I think she camps it up a bit too much (just like in Moulin Rouge) and I find it distracting. And there's another criticism, but I can't remember it just now. Hrm. OH, right. There were too many crescendo-moments. Where everything is slow-mo and super dramatic and you think maybe the movie is ending or something, but it's a random transition scene. That was a little bizarre.
Caveat, since I am not a movie critic with any way to judge a movie on merits besides the intensely subjective response that I personally had to it: I think Luhrmann may not be for everyone, but I love his sense of whimsy and that he's unafraid to go epic with his films. Every possible human emotion was covered. And, it was such a love letter to Australia that it was hard for me to not to be caught up in the charm.
Even though it was long, I was never bored. And I bore easily.
It was also fun to see some familiar faces. (Coughlin, Faramir, and the dad from Strictly Ballroom.)
I have no idea what the critical reviews are like yet, but it was really a nice way to spend the afternoon.
I have sort of unexpectedly loved every Baz Lurhmann movie I've seen. Yeah, even Moulin Rouge. The whole Red Curtain trilogy was awesome. But, the previews for Australia seemed like too many movies spatched together and the vague reviews at Defamer indicated that everyone thought it was way too long.
So, it's true I had lowered expectations when I went in. But I ended up really loving it. Sometimes movies with spunky kids bug me, because the intention to gank at your heartstrings seems so transparent and manipulative.
The movie starts a little weakly, with the aboriginal kid narrating in pidgin-speak. And I wasn't the biggest fan of that, but it at least didn't bother me. It was nearly three hours, and there were many stories, but I loved them all.
The scene where Nuallah loses his mom had me tearing up in earnest and shaking a little. It's not hard to make me cry in general, but I really don't cry at the movies often. It sort of caught me off guard how upset I felt about it and for the death of the accountant whose name I'm forgetting.
I liked Nicole Kidman's character so much. I liked that there wasn't this annoying trajectory of how she has a general assumption about the aboriginal people and then has a shiny epiphany that, WOW, it's like they're PEOPLE or something. Nor was she some sort of dewey-eyed love everyone sing kumbahya because the hills are alive with the sound of all people type. She had actual moral fiber and strength and determination and was allowed to be multi-faceted enough to also be loving and playful and interested in sex. I found myself really admiring her. Which also doesn't happen that often at the movies lately. Clearly, I would like to be this character when I grow up.
Hugh Jackman was freaking hot as usual. I think he should come over so we can make out now. I also liked that his character had some depth and didn't have all the usual boring hangups. (Which, maybe his attachment issues are the boring kind, but they were because he'd lost his first wife and was scared.)
The rest of the cast did a great job, too. I liked that Neil Fletcher wasn't just a toady acting for the Big Bad as one might have assumed from the beginning. He was the true villain of the piece and Carney was just a ruthless businessman, but not a killer.
My only criticisms are that while I admire Kidman's willingness to be silly, I think she camps it up a bit too much (just like in Moulin Rouge) and I find it distracting. And there's another criticism, but I can't remember it just now. Hrm. OH, right. There were too many crescendo-moments. Where everything is slow-mo and super dramatic and you think maybe the movie is ending or something, but it's a random transition scene. That was a little bizarre.
Caveat, since I am not a movie critic with any way to judge a movie on merits besides the intensely subjective response that I personally had to it: I think Luhrmann may not be for everyone, but I love his sense of whimsy and that he's unafraid to go epic with his films. Every possible human emotion was covered. And, it was such a love letter to Australia that it was hard for me to not to be caught up in the charm.
Even though it was long, I was never bored. And I bore easily.
It was also fun to see some familiar faces. (Coughlin, Faramir, and the dad from Strictly Ballroom.)
I have no idea what the critical reviews are like yet, but it was really a nice way to spend the afternoon.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 06:04 pm (UTC)I'm disappointed (and surprised) that the box office numbers in the US over the weekend were so bad. I know the reviews have been "mixed" though I was hoping that won't have too much influence since it was my impression that most of them criticise Luhrmann for being Luhrmann, the guy best known for making over-the-top somewhat kitschy, epic movies. It's too bad since it probably means that it gets less likely that similar movies, epics especially made for the big screen, will get made
but instead countless third-rate, angsty, teenage vampire movies.no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 06:29 pm (UTC)And I agree--I hope the critical snarls won't prevent more movies like this. As much as I laughed my ass off at the Big Sparkly Vampire movie, I wouldn't want the genre (especially the third-rate of the lot) to permeate my theaters.